Office



. (No Model.)

B. HART 81; TQWARE.

CARPET STRETOHER.

No. 249,176, Patented Nov. 8, 1881.:

wail:

ATTORNEY UNITED STATES PATENT'- mm.

ROBERT HART AND THOMAS WARE, OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI.

CARPET-STRETCH ER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 249,176, dated November 8, 1881.

' Application filed August 31, 1881. (NomodeL) To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ROBERT BART and THOMAS WARE, citizens of the United States, residing at Kansas City, in the county of Jackson and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Appa ratus for Laying Carpets; and we do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters or figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

Our invention has for its object to provide an improved means whereby carpets may be readily laid, stretched, and held in place without the use of tacks or other similar fastenin gs,

and as readily taken up in case of fire or for cleaning purposes; and it consists in the combination and arrangement of a series of hooks designedto be attached to the wash-board of a room and adapted for operation in connection with a wire cord or rope which passes over and around the said hooksand also engages with fasteninghooks of novel construction which project into the carpet around its edges to draw the same up to the wash-board, where it is held in place, all as will be hereinafter more fully described, and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a top-plan view of our complete invention; Fig. 2, a perspective view of one of the fastening or grappling hooks, and Fig. '3 a perspective view of the device for holding the ends of the wire cord or rope.

Similar letters of reference occurring on th several figures indicate corresponding parts.

Referring to the drawings, A represents the metallic hooks, which are designed to be attached to the wash-board of aroom previous to the operation of stretching and laying a carpet, said hooks being either pointed or provided with screw-threads at their ends to facilitate their introduction into the wash-board.

Brepresents thefastening or grapplinghooks, which are provided at one end with two down wardly and rearwardly extending prongs or points, a, adapted to catch into the carpet around its edges, and at the opposite end with a hook or curve, I), which is adapted to receive therein, as fully shown in the drawings.

D-represents the fastening devicefor the cord or rope G, and which consists of a metallic staff and allow the wire cord or rope() to slide freely provided at its outer end with a V-shaped hook,

c, said staff being also provided with a sharp point or with screw-threads at the end to permit of its easy introduction into the wash-board, the one end of the cord or rope 0 being securely fastened to said staff, and the other or free end of the cord, when the carpet has been stretched in place, drawn tightly into the V-shaped hook until it is securely held or clamped therein.

- It will be observed that small friction-rollers may be journaled in the ends of the hooks A and grappling-hooks B to facilitate the action of the wire cord or rope 0 when drawing the carpet up to its place against the wash-board.

In the operation of our invention the fastening device D, with one end of the cord or rope 0 connected thereto, is inserted into the wash-board at a suitable point. The hooks A are then inserted into the wash-hoard at each corner of the room, and also at such points along the wash-board between the corners as may be deemed necessary. The carpet being then laid upon the floor of the room which it is desired to cover, the wire cord or rope G is alternately passed over one of the said hooks A and around the hook b of the grappling devices B, the points a of which project into the carpet near its edges.

ltwill thus be observed that the carpet is gradually stretched and drawn'up to its place against the wash-hoard by pulling upon the free end of the cord or rope O, the strain being equally distributed over the entire carpet, thereby allowing it to be evenly and perfectly stretched and drawn to its place. When the carpet is up in place all around the wash-board the free end of the rope O is pulled tightly into the V-shaped recess of the fastening device D, where it is securely held by pressure. The carpet is thus held securely in place upon the floor in the simplest and best possible manner.

The hooks and cord, being small, are out of the IOO tion, inasmuch as it provides a most efficient and simplified means for stretching and holdingcarpets in placewit-hout the use of tacks or other similar fastenings which injure the textile fabric every time the carpet is taken up.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and useful is- 1. The herein-described means for laying, stretching, and securing carpets in place, consisting of the grappling-hooks B, wall-hooks A, wire cord or rope O, and fastening device D, the several parts being adapted for operation in connection with each other substantially as specified.

2. In a device forseouring carpets to the floor, the combination and arrangement of the grappling-hooks B, wall-hooks A, cord or rope G, and fastening device D, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

3. In a device for securing carpets to the floor, the grappling-hook B, provided with the penetrating prongs a and hook I), in combination with the wall-hooks A and wire cord or rope O, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

4. In a device for stretching and laying oarpets,the fastening device D, provided with the V-shaped hook 0, for holding the end of the cord or rope G, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

1n testimonywhereof we affiX our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

ROBERT HART. THOS. WARE.

Witnesses:

R. J. 0. HUNTER, CHAS. DEMMoN. 

